


Exercise

by wheel_pen



Series: Viridian Mal [4]
Category: Star Trek: Enterprise
Genre: Alternate Universe, Fish out of Water, Gen, Imprinting
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-04-14
Updated: 2013-04-14
Packaged: 2017-12-08 11:29:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,323
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/760836
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wheel_pen/pseuds/wheel_pen
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Trip learns he should not use the exercise ball to babysit Mal.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Exercise

**Author's Note:**

> 1\. Viridians appear human, but are actually aliens who imprint on other people (Viridian or otherwise) and form a bond with them. They also live their entire life cycle in about six Earth years.
> 
> 2\. In each series, a different character is a Viridian, who was raised by mean Klingons on an outpost. An Enterprise crewmember is captured by the Klingons and they inadvertently form a bond with the Viridian, who helps them escape. Then they return to rescue the Viridian and bring them aboard the Enterprise. The Viridian homeworld is contacted and the Enterprise crew learn the Viridian will most likely die if they are sent away. So they end up staying on the Enterprise, and the crewmember has to adjust.
> 
> 3\. The bad words are censored. That’s just how I do things.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this AU. I own nothing and appreciate the chance to play in this universe.

"I don't understand."

Trip took a deep breath and tried again. "You eat, you take in energy. You do physical activity, you use up that energy. You with me so far?"

Mal hesitated a long moment. "Yes."

"Around _here_ , we don't really do a lot of physical labor each day," Trip went on. "Not enough to burn off enough of the calories we eat. And what happens if we take in a lot more calories than we burn off?"

"Um… we gain weight?"

"Very good!" Trip assured him. So those biology lessons Phlox had given him _had_ been useful after all. "Now if you gain too much weight, that's bad."

"Why?"

"Well, um… Past a certain point, it's real hard on your body to carry all the extra weight around. Hard on your joints and stuff," Trip explained, pointing out a few joints. "And if the food you're eating has a lot of stuff in it that isn't good for your body, well, you're, uh, collecting all this bad stuff. In your body." Trip had gone into engineering, not medicine, after all.

"What sort of stuff is bad?"

He had been afraid Mal might ask that. "Why don't you ask Dr. Phlox about that next time?" Trip diverted. "My point here is, we gotta do extra physical activity to burn off the calories and stay in shape, keep your body strong and healthy."

"And this is called _exercise_?"

"Exactly." Mal looked worried. "What?"

"I've never exercised before," he confessed. "What if there are all kinds of horrible substances building up inside me?"

"Well, hey now, the doctor checked you out and said you were fine, right?" Trip reminded him quickly. "So don't worry about that, okay?"

Mal was quiet for another moment. "Do you think I weigh too much?"

Actually he was more likely _under_ weight from poor nutrition most of his life, but Trip wasn't going to tell him that. Mal already inhaled food like an open airlock in the kitchen. "No—not yet," Trip said instead. "But we want to make exercise a good habit to get into, to prevent problems in the future. Right?" Mal did not look entirely convinced. "And, exercise will help you get into shape."

"You've mentioned that before," Mal observed. "What shape am I supposed to be?"

"No, it means—it's like, you build your muscles up so you can lift heavier things, or increase your endurance so you can run longer, things like that," Trip tried to tell him.

"And why would I want to do that?"

"Well—er—Hey, suppose you get into a tough spot on an alien planet," Trip hypothesized. "What if you gotta fight people off, or run away, or hide in an awkward place for hours? I mean, you can't do that if you're—" He stopped when he saw Mal's pale face and alarmed expression. "Mal?"

"Do you have to do those things?" Mal asked in a terrified whisper, clutching Trip's arm. "How awful! What a horrible place to live! We should go somewhere quiet and safe to live…"

"No, no, Mal, it's not like—" Trip sighed. "Most of the time it's really routine around here," he tried to assure the other man. "But we gotta stay healthy and be prepared for anything, okay? It's, um… Starfleet regulations." There, beat _that_.

"What an awful way to think about things," Mal told him resolutely. "I don't like this 'Starfleet' thing. Why do they always want you to fight people?"

Trip rolled his eyes. "They _don't_ , Mal. But if we get into a tough spot, better to be _able_ to fight than not, don't you think?"

"I don't want to think about it."

"Okay," Trip agreed, realizing he wasn't going to win this one. "So let's just say exercise is so you stay healthy, alright? That's important, don't you think? You don't want to be _un_ healthy, do you?"

"Well, no, I suppose not…"

"Good. Can we go into the gym now?"

Mal nodded, reluctantly, and Trip opened the door to the gym, drawing Mal in after him. What all the people who had entered and exited while Trip and Mal were standing in the hall deep in conversation thought, Trip didn't want to imagine. At least it wasn't very busy at the moment—the room was actually on the small side, Trip had always thought, and he'd purposely picked a time when he'd observed there weren't very many other people around. He figured Mal would probably either get all shy and inhibited with a crowd, or he'd do something embarrassing that Trip didn't want many witnesses for.

"Okay, the first thing you always need to do is stretch," Trip informed him seriously, settling down on a corner of the mat in the center of the room. "Come on." Mal sat down facing him, legs curled up underneath him. "'Cause we gotta get the muscles warmed up and ready to work, you know. So put your legs out, like this…" Mal did so. "Now, just real gently, lean forward and try to touch your toes. Don't force it, you'll hurt yourself. Just see how far you can go."

Mal bent completely over and grabbed his foot easily. "Like this?"

"J---s!" Trip exclaimed, in spite of himself. "Does that hurt?"

"No. Can't you do that?"

"No," Trip informed him shortly. "Humans are not quite that flexible, I guess…"

Mal liked stretching, as it turned out. Which Trip was glad of, even if he spent ten minutes longer at it than he normally would have. And even if he was really kind of creeped out watching Mal twist himself into all kinds of positions that were anatomically impossible for humans.

"That was fun," Mal declared. "This is exercise, then?"

"Uh, well, that's the _first_ part of exercise," Trip corrected, standing. "Now we get to the main part. See all these machines and stuff?" Mal turned, looking all around the gym. "So they all do different things to help you exercise different parts of your body, and in different ways. Um, come over here." He indicated the row of treadmills off to one side. Trip climbed onto the platform and tapped in a few settings. The runner began to turn, slowly, as he walked over it. Mal watched, fascinated.

"Ohhh, I get it, it's like a big circle," he finally announced, after examining the machine thoroughly. "It just keeps going around and around."

"That's right," Trip agreed. "And I can make it go faster…" He increased the speed and started jogging.

"But you aren't going anywhere," Mal observed.

"Well, no," Trip admitted. "We're on a ship, Mal, we really don't have anywhere to _go_. Not like we can get out and run alongside for a while."

"It seems rather dull."

Trip sighed and shut off the treadmill. "You probably won't like the stationary bicycle any better, then," he decided. He looked around. "Uh, come on, let's try weight lifting."

Mal followed Trip dutifully over to one of the weight stations. "Okay," Trip began, "this is a weight. It has a certain, um, weight. It's heavy, see? Try to pick it up."

Mal tried. "That's awfully heavy."

"Right. Let's start with something a little lighter for you…" Trip removed a couple of the weight units. "So what you do, is you pick it up like this… and then down… and then up… and then down… You get it?" Mal nodded. "Go ahead and try."

Mal looked at him. "You want me to pick up a heavy thing and put it back down," he repeated flatly. "Over and over again? That seems rather dull as well."

"I didn't say exercise was an intellectual activity," Trip ground out. "You get into a routine, and you think about something else for a while."

"Can't I think about something else for a while, without at the same time doing something rather dull?"

Trip didn't have an answer for that one. He set the weights aside, thinking about how his schedule was going to be completely thrown off if he didn't get Mal settled and get some exercise in himself. Out of the corner of his eye he saw a movement and turned just as an ensign was climbing out of the exercise ball. _Hmmm,_ Trip thought. Worth a try, anyway.

"Okay, come over here," he instructed Mal. "Now look at this thing. This is fun. What you do is strap your feet in here, and you hold on up here, and this thing spins." He gave the metal framework a push, setting it off in a variety of directions. "And you control how it moves, in what direction and how fast, by pushing and pulling with your arms and legs and generally moving around." He stopped the metal rings and looked at Mal. "Think you'd like to try that?"

"Well… I guess that might be okay," Mal allowed.

That was all Trip needed. "Alright! Now we're talking."

"Haven't we _been_ talking?"

Trip shook his head. "Never mind. Just climb up in here…" He strapped Mal's feet into the holders and adjusted the height so he could just reach the handles over his head. "Okay? Now it's locked right now, but I'm gonna unlock it," he warned. "You give it a try and tell me what you think." Trip flipped the switch and stepped back to a safe distance.

At first nothing happened. Mal just stood there. Then he twitched his arm a bit, and the entire contraption spun, sending him upside down and backwards. He let out a howl that drew the attention of everyone in the room and Trip kicked the emergency brake, freezing Mal partway inverted and facing the wall. "Mal! Are you okay?"

"Oh yes," Mal assured him. "Why did you stop it?"

"Well, you _screamed_ ," Trip pointed out. "I thought you didn't like it."

"It was a happy scream," Mal clarified.

"No more screaming," Trip instructed. "It bothers people."

"Oh, okay."

"I'm gonna start it up again." Trip released the emergency brake and let Mal continue spinning. "You okay in there?"

"Yes, this is lots of fun," Mal replied, concentrating as he tried to figure out how to make the machine go in different directions.

"Okay. I'm just gonna be over here on the treadmill, okay?"

"Alright!"

Half an hour later, Trip was panting and sweating but feeling pleasantly energized as well. He hadn't heard a thing from Mal except the occasional squeal that escaped, usually followed by the assurance, "That was a happy noise!" He had, however, noticed a few people glancing hopefully at the exercise ball, and Trip didn't want to be a gym hog. He slowed the treadmill to a walk and started to cool down a bit. "Mal! Come on and get out of that thing now."

"But it's fun!"

"I know, but we gotta share it with other people. Straighten up and get out of there."

Reluctantly Mal maneuvered himself into the proper upright position, locked the machine, and released his feet. Then he melted to the floor in a puddle.

Trip jumped off the treadmill and ran over to him. "Mal! Are you okay?"

Mal tried to stand but was entirely unsuccessful. "I thought I got out of the spinny ball," he said in a wobbly voice, weaving in every direction.

"D—n," Trip muttered, helping him up. "Come on, let's go see the Doc."

Mal didn't seem to be in discomfort, or, thank goodness, about to puke everywhere. He just couldn't possibly hold any part of himself upright, which made the walk to Sickbay rather interesting. "I didn't even _think_ about how your species might react to that thing," Trip sighed. "I guess you must have—something different in your brain? Or your ears?" Ears were where balance was controlled, right?

"My ears?" Mal repeated in confusion.

"Never mind," Trip told him. "Come on."

"Why are you all sweaty and smelly?" Mal asked with distaste, as Trip supported him bodily down the hall.

"Because I was just exercising, Mal," Trip explained tightly. "You get sweaty and smelly when you exercise. Or you should."

Mal wrinkled his nose. "I don't like exercise. I don't like being sweaty and smelly."

Trip decided he didn't have to respond to that, as they had just reached Sickbay. He helped Mal up on the nearest biobed and had to call for Phlox while making sure Mal didn't take a header straight to the floor. "He was in that exercise ball thing," Trip told the doctor as Phlox scanned Mal. "He really seemed to be enjoying it."

"It was so much fun!" Mal agreed happily. "I feel like I haven't even left!"

"Mm-hmm," Phlox remarked. "And how long was he using this device?"

"Oh, about half an hour, I guess."

Phlox gave Trip a look. "The safety limit is _ten_ minutes, Commander."

Trip blinked at him. "I didn't know there was a safety limit."

"It is, I believe, _posted_ directly beside the machine," the doctor told him. "Along with a number of other safety warnings, which you _may_ wish to familiarize yourself with in the future."

He could hardly miss the admonishment in Phlox's tone. "D—n," Trip sighed. "He's not hurt, is he?"

"Not permanently," Phlox concluded. "I recommend that he lie down quietly until the dizziness subsides. But please contact me if it has not abated within an hour, or he begins to display any other symptoms."

"Right," Trip agreed reluctantly. There went his exercise slot for the day. At least he'd gotten his jogging in. At Mal's expense, apparently. "Come on, Mal, time to take a nap for a bit."

"Will you be taking a shower soon?" Mal requested, clinging to Trip's arms that were becoming slightly sticky with drying sweat.

"Yes."

"Oh, and Commander?" Trip turned back to Phlox. "Someone should stay with him until he feels back to normal."

"Of course, Doc." There went the rest of his schedule.


End file.
